Teamwork with Imperfect People

Throughout history God has demonstrated His ability to work in unique and culturally relevant ways to accomplish His plans. The remarkable thing is that God chooses to incorporate people into His plans.

When we begin working with people to accomplish God’s purposes we foster a sense of teamwork. Teamwork is good; no one can be expected to do everything on their own all the time—besides, God doesn’t work that way. In a team we have the opportunity to discover one another’s gifts and strengths; this is encouraging. We also have the opportunity to discover the shortcomings we each have, both in skills and personality traits.

It’s easy to get discouraged, frustrated, disappointed and even angry by each other’s shortcomings. At the same time we need to remember that conflict is not necessarily a bad thing. Left unresolved it is, but resolving conflicts builds stronger relationships.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 (NIV)

God doesn’t use perfect people. In fact, this passage tells us the exact opposite: God uses imperfect people. God is not really interested in a person’s social status, money, education, job, skill set, or anything else; as much as He is interested in a person’s willingness.

People need to be allowed to try new things and know they can operate in the freedom that they are allowed to make mistakes—and learn from them. If we put aside the differences we have and recognize that it’s okay (and even encouraged) for someone else to do the same task/job/project we have always done a different way, we unlock the power of teamwork.

It doesn’t stop there, we unlock the power of God’s Spirit to operate in and through us as a corporate body. This is truly where the real power¹ lies.